“Can you do a Free Trial first?”, “I could probably do this myself”, and “I will have to think about it” are phrases that many of us freelancers will have heard from prospective clients at one time or another. If this has been the case for you, then it’s likely that your marketing strategy would benefit greatly from adding some solid client testimonials to your portfolio. In this post I’m going to show you how to get a great video testimonial from your clients.
The reason why testimonials are so important when it comes to sales and marketing, are because they are a great way of eradicating any concerns that your prospective clients might have about your products, services and about you in general. With a great testimonial, you can identify and resolve any looming questions that the public may have about your business, and thus gain the buyer’s immediate trust without taking up your own time. For maximum effect, you’ll want to obtain video testimonials as they carry more authenticity, as well as a more genuine review from the client.
Once you know how to use client testimonials, they can be one of the greatest weapons that any business could store in its arsenal. Not only are they an effective way of gaining your prospective client’s trust, they can also be used to cut costs too. By including quality reviews in your sales funnel, you will automatically reduce the time you personally spend trying to convince people to buy your products and services. As you probably know… Time is Money.
How to ask your client for a testimonial
To put it simply… If you don’t ask; You don’t get. I realise that asking someone to publicly state how great you are can seem like quite a daunting proposition, especially if that person is usually a busy individual, but at the end of the day your clients should want you to succeed. Why? Because the more successful you become, the more likely you are to improve and produce better work for them and their business.
When asking your clients for a review, it makes sense to use the messaging platform that you usually use to interact with them, whether it be on Facebook Messenger, Email or even Whatsapp. Now that you know what to do, you’ll want to know how to do it…
How and when to ask for a testimonial
Now that you know that you HAVE to ask, you’re probably wondering what’s the best way to do so. The thing is that you don’t need to make this difficult for yourself, just keep it simple and ask them the following:
“Hey [First Name], I’m glad that you were happy with [X Project]. I was wondering if it would be possible to get a video testimonial from you? I would be happy to provide some notes on what you can say if it makes it easier. Thanks, Mike”
What you’ll notice is that I mentioned a specific project that we worked on together, and reminded them of how happy they were with the results. This small mention should act as a way of putting them in a good mood before I even ask for the testimonial, as they’ll be more inclined to do so know that you’ve done a good job for them. It goes without saying then that, the best time to ask for the testimonial is right after you’ve impressed your client. Strike while the iron is hot!
You should have a good understanding of whether or not your client is comfortable being in front of a camera, but either way you should ask them for a video testimonial, they can always politely offer a written review instead if they’re uncomfortable about filming themselves. The trick in the beginning is to seek out clients that enjoy filming themselves (not like that), and work with them for a cheaper rate in return for that video testimonial!
If they’re hesitant even to write you a written review, purely because they just don’t have the time, then you can either cut your losses or you can offer them a discount on your next service. Alternatively you can offer a free product or service, although there are plenty of prospective clients out there that would be more than happy to publicly praise your work – provided that you did a good job for them!
5 Points To Cover In A Great Testimonial
There are 4-5 questions that I would send to my clients whenever I ask for a testimonial. The purpose of these questions are to eradicate any concerns that a potential customer might have when they consider purchasing my services. Don’t be afraid to add some supporting information, such as examples, along with the question itself when you send them to your clients. It helps to give them some guidance which can speed up the process, as you might imagine – they can be busy people!
#1 – Who are you & what do you do?
I couldn’t help but read that back in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop voice. Anyway… This is a relatively easy question to answer and shouldn’t take up much more than 10 seconds or one sentence [in a written review]. It’s an opportunity for the client to quickly introduce themselves to your audience. As well as being a free form of advertising for their business.
By having them briefly explain what it is that they do, it can massively increase the likelihood of converting sales for customers in the same niche. Thus making quality testimonials the perfect form of content when running a targeted Ad campaign.
#2 – What was your situation before working with me?
What were the pain-points that your client was suffering prior to meeting you? Answering this can help you resonate with prospective buyers who may also be facing these same issues. Such pain-points might be that they didn’t have the time, focus or know-how to achieve the results that you now deliver for them.
A good response will create a clear comparison between the situation back then, as well as the situation now after having worked with you.
It may also be a good idea to mention how they found you & your business… Did they find you on Google? A forum? By recommendation? It gives an added sense of authenticity, especially if the potential customer found you the same way.
#3 – Why were you cautious of working with me initially?
This is my favourite question. If done right, this question alone will remove any doubt that your potential clients may have towards you & your business. For many, their biggest obstacle when buying a product or service is the price. This is your grand opportunity for the client to explain why their investment was totally worthwhile. A perfect example could be:
“Initially I was a bit concerned at the cost of the “How to get perfect client testimonials” course, however given that I was getting nowhere on my own – I decided to take the leap, I can’t describe how glad I am that I did! It was truly money well spent. I managed to make a return on my investment within the first month using the tools within the course. I would recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested”
Of course this doesn’t just apply to pricing, it can be a chance to eradicate concerns on product quality, lack of support, relevance and much, much more. It’s important that you get your client to express their concerns honestly and preferably in detail.
#4 – What specific results have you achieved by working with me?
Obviously you can talk about statistics, graphs & charts but sometimes I like to make things personal. So let me reword the question… As a result of working with me; how has your life changed? Example responses might be that they:
- No longer feel stressed out all of the time
- Now have more time to spend with the family
- Have generated enough income to start exploring new business ventures
- Took a holiday for the first time in years, without feeling anxious about leaving work behind
By adding that human factor, this sort of response really helps to connect you with your potential client. If you’ve got some great numbers to show, then by all means show them! And lastly…
#5 – What’s it been like working with me?
Basically, this means… “Please tell people i’m not a D***”. I like to throw in this question to give the viewer a sense of what they can expect from me on a personal level. There isn’t much you can suggest to the client without blowing your own trumpet, but you can provide previous examples as long as they’re still accurate. Such examples could include:
- ‘He’s really easy to talk to’
- ‘She’s always just a phone call away’
- ‘They always keep me in the loop & explain things clearly’
- ‘If he doesn’t know something he’ll just say right away, but he’s quick to go away and find out the answer for me. I’ve got a lot of respect for how honest he is’.
As you can see this question should cover positive aspects of your character. It helps to create a sense of personality & it builds trust with the customer. Trust which is essential when converting sales.
Conclusion
A decent video testimonial can be the greatest piece of marketing content that you’ll have in your client portfolio, as it has the potential to eradicate any potential concerns that your prospective client might have about you and your business, and it can also help to pre-frame that prospects opinion about you before your sales call, making it much easier to convert them into a paying customer.
Did you have any questions or feedback on this post about how to ask a client for a decent video testimonial? If so then please let me know in the comments below!
